


Taken

by Mettespo



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Drama, F/M, Friendship, Hurt, Kidnapping, Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-15 23:30:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5804488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mettespo/pseuds/Mettespo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>„What's going on, Lonny?“<br/>„I'm not sure, but I think somebody is following us.“ Lonny answered, casting his eyes to the mirror again. „It's hard to make out in the dark and they're keeping their distance, but the shape of the car and the headlights suggest they might be behind us since we left AWM...“</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking about this story for a while, prompted by the last scene of season 1, Lonny driving Will home after the broadcast.  
> When I first watched it I was absolutely convinced something was going to happen and there would be a cliffhanger, making us wait til season 2. Well, we all know there wasn't one, so this is my version, especially because I think it's strange that the death threats and Lonny just disappeared after season 1.

**Taken**

_Monday, August 08, 2011_  
  


Will was feeling good. Tired, but good.  
The show on Dorothy Cooper and the laws on Voter ID legislation had been a success and definitely worth the hard work his whole team had put into it.  
He knew the 'American Taliban' remark would stir up more trouble during the next days or weeks, but he wasn't worried about it just yet, even though new threats had been pouring in during the show already. He stood behind his statement one hundred percent and somebody had to get the truth out to the American people.

Now Lonny was taking him home and he was looking forward to a relaxing evening at home with some takeout and maybe a movie. He could really use some quiet after the time in the hospital and the busy work days that had followed, especially as it was only Monday today and the whole week was still ahead.

Rides with Lonny were usually a pretty quiet affair, just like it was today. They had exchanged a few words when they had left AWM but now they both dwelled on their own thoughts. However, Will did notice that Lonny was checking out his rear view mirror far more often than usual and couldn't refrain from asking for the reason. „What's going on, Lonny?“

„I'm not sure, but I think somebody is following us.“ Lonny answered, casting his eyes to the mirror again. „It's hard to make out in the dark and they're keeping their distance, but the shape of the car and the form of the headlights suggest they might be behind us since we left AWM...“ He quickly looked at Will. „Do you mind if we take a short detour?“

„Well, I'd like to get home, but you're the pro here. Do what you have to do.“

Lonny nodded and thought for a moment. Then he left Walker St they were on and turned right into Centre St, took the next left, another left into Lafayette before turning back onto Walker.

„The car's still behind us. Fasten your seatbelt, this could get ugly.“  
Lonny accelerated slightly and reached for his radio to inform his company of a possible threat. He had just identified himself when Will saw bright headlights coming towards them at great speed from the left. The next thing he heard was the grinding sound of metal crashing into metal.

Their SUV was hit on the side and being dragged along by the other car before spinning around. The front airbags were released; still Will, trying to hold on to the dashboard with the right hand and pushing the left one up to the roof, could hear Lonny cry out in pain and saw blood coloring the white airbags and his hand in front of him.

This was when his head hit the window frame with great force and everything turned black.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

  
MacKenzie was working late and a little surprised to have her office phone ring at this hour, nevertheless she answered after the second ring to find Charlie on the other end.

„Mac, you're still there, good. Come up to my office right now.“ Before she could ask what was going on he had hung up already.  
Shaking her head she got up and headed for the elevator, noticing that she apparently was the last one working on this floor for the evening, as it was so often the case.

When she arrived on the 44th floor she went straight through to Charlie's office. His assistant Millie had already left for the day, probably hours ago, so she knocked on his door and entered.  
He was standing at the window and slowly turned around. Seeing his grave expression she knew something was wrong. „Charlie? What's the matter?“

„Take a seat, Mac.“ He waited until she did before he continued. „I just had a call from Blue North Security; there has been an accident.“

She paled. „Will? Is he alright? What happened?“

„I don't know any details yet. They said someone from their office is on his way up for a briefing. I thought you might want to be here when he comes.“

„Yes, thank you“ Mac whispered with a shaky voice. Then she got up and started to pace along the window front. „They didn't say anything?“

„No, sorry. But he should be here any minute now.... Would you like a drink?“

She shook her head. „No, thanks... It can't be a good sign that they didn't tell you anything on the phone, can it?“

„I don't know, Mac. Let's not assume the w...“ At this moment there was a knock at the door at which both of them startled. „Come in.“

Two men in dark suits entered the office. „Mr. Skinner?“

„Yes. And this is Ms. MacKenzie McHale, Executive Producer and close friend of Mr. McAvoy's. What the fuck happened?“

„My name is Ted Wilkins, Chief of Security at Blue North Security. This is Agent Andrew Benton from the FBI.“

„FBI?“ Mac took a step closer. „What's going on here?“

Wilkins quickly looked at her, then turned his head back to Charlie „About 40 minutes ago Lonny Church was making contact with us during the ride home to Mr. McAvoy's place. He had just identified himself when our guy on the radio heard the sound of a hard impact, like he hit another car. He heard cries of pain, then the radio went dead.“

„Oh my God, are they alright?“ Mac turned even paler and held on to the back of the chair she was standing next to.

Wilkins focused his attention on her.  
„All our cars are GPS monitored, so we immediately sent our own people, informed the police and had two ambulances dispatched to the location. When we arrived at the scene we saw that another car had crashed into the driver's side of the SUV. Lonny was stuck behind the wheel and unconscious; he's being taken to the hospital as we speak.“ He looked back to Charlie.

„Unfortunately there was no sign of Mr. McAvoy.“


	2. Chapter 2

**„ _Unfortunately there was no sign of Mr. McAvoy.“_**

 

Charlie quickly took a step towards Mac, who looked at the FBI agent in disbelief, and put his arm around her shoulder to steady her. Then he took a deep breath. „What do you think has happened, Agent Benton?“

Benton cleared his throat. „At the moment we are still trying to get a more precise picture. There are lots of possibilities, from walking away from the scene in shock up to more serious scenarios. And we cannot rule out a kidnapping, that's why we, the FBI, were called in.“

„And what the fuck are you doing to find him?“ It was clear that Charlie barely contained his anxiety.

„As Mr. Church is not able to answer any questions at the moment, my agents are currently investigating the scene and taking witness statements. We naturally tried to contact Mr. McAvoy on his cell phone and also tried to track it, but it seems to be turned off.“  
Then Benton addressed Charlie directly. „Mr. Skinner, Mr. Wilkins told us about the threats against Mr. McAvoy and this will naturally be one focal point of our investigation. What can you tell me about it?“

Charlie shrugged his shoulders. „Over the last one and a half years the format of 'Newsnight', Will's show, has changed considerably, and he has been taking on more serious issues.“ He quickly glanced over to Mac. „An important topic was the Tea Party and it's influence on the Republican Party and the country; most of the fucking threats were referring to Will's opposition to...“

Mac interrupted him. „Will called the Tea Party the 'American Taliban' on tonight's show and new threats have been coming in already. Do you think that could have had anything to do with what happened?“

„We don't know yet, Ms. McHale, but we will certainly look into it. Mr. Skinner, I will need the threatening letters to have them examined by our people.“

Charlie nodded and stepped to his desk, pulling a rather big file out of one drawer and handing it to the agent. „Most of the threats came over the internet – e-mails, entries on his blog, our website etc. These are printouts plus a few letters that came via the postal service. I assume you will need to speak to Neal Sampat who is responsible for the internet activities?“

Benton confirmed this with a bow of his head. „Yes, please call him in. I will have someone take these letters to our lab and wait here for Mr. Sampat. We will have to take his computer to the lab as well.“

While Charlie looked up Neal's number and tried to get him on the phone, Agent Benton turned to Mac.  
„Ma'am, why weren't we contacted about these letters before?“

Mac shrugged. „I wasn't actually involved, but I know that Will wasn't really taking the threats seriously. He didn't want protection either but the insurance company insisted on it, so he didn't have a choice.“

„Okay, we will speak to the insurance company. Is Mr. McAvoy married or is he in a relationship? Does he have children?“

„No.“ She shook her head. „Charlie and I are the closest he has to family in New York. His sisters live in Nebraska, I can give you their numbers if you'd like.“

„Yes please, thank you.“ The agent turned to Charlie who had just hung up.

„We're lucky, Mr. Sampat was ending the day at a bar close by and will come right back in. I told him to wait at his desk in the bullpen.“

„Good, thank you... Ms. McHale, would you show me the way?“

„Certainly... Charlie, I'll be back shortly.“

He nodded. „Take your time, I'll have some calls to make. Tell Neal to help Agent Benton with anything he needs.“

Mac led the two men to the elevator and sick with worry she couldn't help but ask. „Agent Benton, with your experience... What do you think has happened?“

„I'm sorry, Ms. McHale, I'd rather not hypothesise without more information from my agents, please understand.“

Mac sighed. „I'm sorry, I'm just... What shape is Lonny in?“

Wilkins looked at her. „We don't know yet, but I will let you know once we hear anything.“

„Thank you... I hope he's alright, he's a good man.“

When they entered the bullpen Neal hadn't arrived yet, so Mac showed the two men to Will's office to look around in there. In the meantime she quickly went over to hers, looked up the contact details for Will's sisters Mary and Victoria on her computer and put them down on paper.

While she was waiting for her laptop to shut down everything that had happened in the last half hour started to finally hit her. Will missing...  
She felt the fear creeping into her bones, and all she wanted to do right now was to sit down in a quiet corner, shed some tears and pray that Will was okay, but she knew this wasn't the time. She had to keep it together and do everything she could to help find him, so she went back into Will's office and handed Agent Benton the piece of paper.

„Can I do anything else to help?“ she asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.

„Not right at the moment, thanks. But I'm sure there will be more questions later.“

Mac nodded. „I'll be there for anything you'll need, just let me know.“ In the corner of her eyes she saw Neal entering the bullpen and heading for his desk. „There's Mr. Sampat, follow me.“

Neal was wearing a confused look and seemed relieved to see Mac coming towards him. „What's going on? Why did I need to come back?“

Mac glanced over to the FBI agent who nodded for her to go ahead.  
„Neal, what I'm going to tell you has to be absolutely confidential for now: Will and Lonny have been in an accident and Will is missing.“ The young man in front of her gasped loudly. „These are Mr. Wilkins from Blue North Security and Agent Benton from the FBI. They need to know everything about the threats Will got and Charlie wants you to fully cooperate.“

„Of course!“ Neal sat down and just wanted to start his computer when Agent Benton stopped him. „Mr. Sampat, we will have to take your hardware to our lab and have our IT forensic scientists analyse everything; I've already called them in. Agent Peters“ he pointed to a man standing closer to the elevators. „will take it there. Can you mirror your hard drive to keep the system going?“

„Yes, that won't be a problem.“ Neal confirmed. „But I actually don't have to as I make an external back up copy every night and only have to put that on another computer.“

„Very good,“ Benton replied. „We want you to keep working on the blog, website; whatever you run. Just business as usual, but don't write anything about what happened yet. Our forensic scientists will monitor all actions on the sites from the lab and also install a FBI tracking software on this machine here as well as the new one in case anything regarding the disappearance of Mr. McAvoy comes up.  
If it does, do not... I repeat: _do not_ react to it from here. If necessary we will do it ourselves We will also synchronize the e-mail program on both computers and will see everything you'll see, understood?“

After looking at Mac for a second Neal nodded and started to unplug his desktop computer. Right this moment Benton's cell phone rang and he excused himself to walk to the elevators. There he gave his instructions to Agent Peters before he answered the call.

Neal took the opportunity and turned to Mac. „What happened?“

„We don't really know anything yet. They have been hit by another car; Lonny is being taken to the hospital but there was no sign of Will...“ Mac choked and Neal gave her a worried look.

„Are you alright?“

„What do you think?“ She sighed before she continued. „Don't tell anybody else yet, they'll know soon enough tomorrow. And do everything the FBI asks you to but don't try any tricks on your own. I know you're a computer wiz but the FBI's in charge here, okay?“

„Sure thing. I'll start setting up a new computer for me right now and let you know in case anything comes in.“

„Thanks, Neal.“ Mac shortly squeezed his shoulder before she turned to the agents who were approaching them.  
„Ms. McHale, will you please join me? I have some news for Mr. Skinner. Mr. Sampat, Agent Peters will take over here.“

Mac nodded and quickly joined him to walk to the elevators, while Mr. Wilkins stayed behind. She was tempted to ask Benton about the news but knew it wasn't her place. The FBI had to report to Charlie and not to his subordinate. She could count herself lucky that he had invited her upstairs again at all.

When they arrived at Charlie's office he was on the phone but immediately ended the conversation. „I'll call you right back.... Agent Benton, do you have any news?“

„Unfortunately I do. I got a first report from the agent in charge at the scene of the accident. According to witness statements their car was deliberately rammed by a black SUV running a red light. A minivan was following Mr. Church's car and two men wearing military clothing and ski masks jumped out, dragged Mr. McAvoy into the van and drove off, together with the driver of the other car.“

„Oh God.“ Mac held a hand to her mouth. „Did they say if he was alright?“

„Two spectators said he appeared to be unconscious, but my people are currently checking out the video surveillance available at that intersection and we should know more soon.  
From what we know so far we have to assume that this was a deliberate plan to abduct Mr. McAvoy. It happened at the corner of Walker and 6th which was cleverly chosen as they don't meet in a ninety degree angle, giving the approaching car a good view and a little more time.“

„What's going to happen now?“ Charlie wanted to know, tightly holding on to a glass of Bourbon.

„First of all, even if it doesn't sound like it, the abduction is a good sign...“

„ _What?_ “ Mac interrupted him incredulously

„...in this situation, Ms. McHale. Sorry to say it so bluntly, but if they wanted him dead, they would have likely killed him on the spot.“

Mac paled but nodded after a moment. „You're right, I'm sorry... It's just... What do we do now?“

„We will follow all leads my people are gathering at the moment. Witness statements, traffic cameras. There's a pharmacy and a starbucks right at the intersection who also have cameras, and we will check other traffic cams to follow their escape route. We will also look into the threats; Mr. Sampat's computer should already be on its way to the lab.  
What we have to do is install a phone trap and trace device in case the kidnappers try to make contact. You said he doesn't have family in the city, so I assume he lives alone?“ He looked over to Charlie, who confirmed this with a bow of his head.

„So who do you think they would contact instead? You? Ms. McHale?“

Charlie gazed at Mac. „If it was anything else I would say her, but I don't think Will would expose her to anything like this, he is very protective. I assume he would tell them to contact me.“

„Good. Is it okay with you if we put a trap on all your phones including your cell?“

„Of course, do whatever is necessary. But I would assume they would call my cell, I don't even think Will knows my office number by heart and the fucking kidnappers probably don't want to go through the switchboard and my assistent...“

„Still, we have to cover all bases, at least until the first contact. We will tap your phones first and then yours, Ms. McHale, if you don't mind. Just to make sure.“ Mac hummed in agreement and Benton cleared his throat.  
„Then there is the question of a possible ransom demand. The FBI has standard agreements with a number of banks which allow us to withdraw large sums on very short notice, day and night. Still you should talk to the owners of AWM up to what amount they are prepared to pay.“

Charlie finally sat down in his chair. „That shouldn't be a problem, but I will talk to Mrs. Lansing.“

„Okay. Well, that would be it for now. I'll have to head back to coordinate the investigation. A team will be over shortly to set up the phone traces, please wait for them here. We would appreciate if you could keep this low key, unless the kidnappers go public or it goes viral otherwise. However, _nothing_ I or any of my people will tell you must be shared with your audience unless we tell you to!“  
He looked from Charlie to Mac with an earnest expression until they both nodded affirmatively before he continued.

„I will let you know as soon as anything develops, otherwise I will be back with an update tomorrow morning around ten. Call me if you need anything or something happens I should know about. And please rest assured that we will do everything in our power to bring Mr. McAvoy home unharmed.“  
With these words he gave both of them his card, stepped out of the office and left Mac and Charlie in silence, neither of them saying a word.

Finally Charlie got up to refill his drink and got a glass for Mac as well. „Sit down and drink, MacKenzie. You look like you fucking need it.“

She sighed and walked from the window to the chair in front of his desk. Accepting the drink she sat down but didn't immediately gulp it down, swirling the contents around instead.

„Are you alright, kiddo?“ Charlie softly asked.

„No.“ Mac simply said, then she took a deep breath. „I've been trying to keep it together, but... I'm scared, Charlie... They could be doing who knows what to him. What if he is already dead?“ A tear ran down her face, but she impatiently wiped it away. „We need to do something, Charlie!“

„There's nothing we can do right now... And Agent Benton was right, it's better that they have taken him than...“ Charlie didn't finish his sentence.

Mac sniffed. „I know... But still... What if it happened because of the 'American Taliban'? We both worked on his copy, so it's my fault. I shouldn't have let him say it...“

„Mac...“ Charlie moved into the chair next to her and held her by her shoulders. „Look at me.“ He waited until she raised her head before he continued.  
„Agent Benton said, this was fucking well planned. Tonight's broadcast cannot have triggered what happened, do you hear me? And even if there are people behind this who don't like our take on the damn Tea Party, it's nobody's fault. Not liking what they hear doesn't give people any fucking right to do something like this!“

He losened his grip and his voice softened. „Mac, you are producing a great, important show, and Will knows it and he is in. He wouldn't do what he is doing down there every night if he didn't believe it was the fucking right thing. Look at tonight's show. You started to get the ball rolling on voter ID laws, you're telling America about how a large number of citizens is losing one of its most basic rights, a right this country has been built on. How their state governments lever out democracy. That's what you are doing the news for, isn't it?“

„Yeah...“ Mac sounded almost rueful. „But I never wanted to put anyone in danger doing it, especially not Will.“

„Well, you had your share of danger in the Middle East and Will knows the risk of what he is doing here. Don't kick yourself for doing your job! Speaking of which...“ Charlie paused for a moment. „What are we gonna do tomorrow? Even if Will is back by then he won't be in any state to do the broadcast...“

„Elliot can fill in for him and Sloan can do ten o'clock. That won't be a problem... I assume we won't give any reason to the public except the FBI gives us a green light?“

Charlie nodded. „Definitely. We won't do anything to endanger their investigation. Although I don't know how they are going to keep it from going viral on the internet with all thoses witnesses... Go home now, Mac. I'll let you know when there's any news.“

She shook her head. „I'll stay, I won't be able to sleep anyway and I'd rather keep Neal company.“ With this she finally emptied her glass, put it down on Charlie's desk and walked to the door. „Tell the FBI they'll find me in my office when they want to install the phone trap. And let me know when you hear anything?“

„I will... Mac?“ She turned around. „Try to get at least a little sleep, the next days won't be easy.“

She gave him a tight smile. „You better do, too.“

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

She found Neal sitting at his desk, intently looking at the screen of his new computer.

„Hey, did you get everything set up again?“

Neal turned around. „Yes, it's up and running. Any news?“

„According to witnesses it seems to be a kidnapping... So something could come up on the net. Still, you should go home, you heard Agent Benton, the FBI will handle it.“

„Yeah... But Agent Peters wasn't quiet sure how long it will take them to set everything up, so I'll stay til they let me know.“ He finished his sentence with a determined look on his face and Mac smiled.  
„You're a good guy, Neal Sampat... I'll make some fresh coffee, and if anything happens, I'll be in my office.“ She gave him a gentle slap on his back before she left him at his desk.

When she returned to her office she didn't turn on the light. The lights of the city falling in through the window made it possible to make out the furniture, so she walked over to her chair and turned it to face the night outside. Taking a deep breath she sat down, clasping her hands around a cup of hot coffee. Finally she was alone and could at least try to understand what had happened tonight.

Everything still swirled around in her head, but right now she didn't so much think about who had done it or why but about Will.  
Where was he? How was he? Was he injured? Was he in pain? Was he scared? What would they do to him? Would she ever see him again?

At this thought she couldn't prevent a sob. She didn't know what she would do if he didn't come back. She didn't care if he ever did the news again but she needed him to be alright.

When she had been in the Middle East she had missed him terribly, but she'd always known where he was and occasionally she'd had the opportunity to watch his show on TV or the internet. She knew he hadn't been happy or content back then and that had been solely her fault. And no matter what Charlie said, what happened tonight was her responsibility, too. _She_ had been the one urging him to tackle the big issues and cry havoc about the state of the country's political system. _She_ was the one egging him on, challenging him and giving him shit when he threatened to fall back into old patterns.  
It was her fault and right now she would give anything to see him report on the new iPhone prototype tomorrow night...

The show tonight had been flawless. She had told him so afterwards and she had gotten the feeling that he had been as proud of it as herself. They had shared a nice couple of minutes before he had left with Lonny and it had felt so good. And now?  
Who knew if she would ever get to talk to him again...?

Her tears started to fall again and this time, alone in her dark office, she didn't try to hide them.


	3. Chapter 3

It was about 2:30 a.m. when Neal suddenly barged into Mac's office.  
„You have to see this! And I think you should call Charlie down, too!“

She only took one look at Neal's face and immediately dialed their boss' extension. Then she followed him outside into the bullpen, anxiously waiting for the elevator doors to open, which thankfully didn't take very long.

Charlie came towards them with long strides. „What is it?“

Neal, back at his desk, nervously cleared his throat. „I've been monitoring the most popular social media sites and a few minutes ago I found this on Youtube.“

He started a video on his screen and they watched what seemed to be a cell phone recording of a group of teens kidding around in front of the camera.  
Suddenly a loud noise and screams from passersby led the person holding the phone to abruptly shift the angle to the left and they saw Lonny's car being pushed by another vehicle before spinning around and coming to a stop.  
Before any of the bystanders even had a chance to move a minivan was stopping next to the passenger side. Two men hopped out, dragged Will from the car into the van, and with a third person, coming from the vehicle that hit the SUV, jumping in, they drove off. The whole scene lasted less than a minute.

Mac, having turned white as a sheet, exhaled the breath she was holding. „Oh my God! He really did seem to be unconscious; he wasn't moving at all. What if he is seriously injured? What if he needs medical attention?“

„There's nothing we can do about that now, Mac, we can just hope he is okay...“ Charlie sighed. „Neal, do you know if the FBI has seen this yet?“

„They haven't called me yet; Agent Peters said they would let me know once they have set everything up in their lab. And I don't know if or how they are supervising social media sites.“

„Okay, then I will tell Agent Benton about this. Send me the link, please. Mac, call in a staff meeting for seven a.m. They shouldn't find out this way, we need to tell them. And we need to prepare to report on this, once I have cleared it with the FBI. Just facts the FBI is ready to release, no speculations.“

MacKenzie nodded. „The other stations and print will be all over this, we should have one single spokesperson.“

„Right and that will be me. If anybody calls, refer them to my office. Neal, try to get at least a little sleep.“ Neal shrugged but didn't say anything, so Charlie followed Mac into her office.

„How are you holding up, Mac?“

„I'm... okay, I guess... Did you talk to Mrs. Lansing?“

„Yeah. She'll pay anything they might ask for. However she couldn't refrain herself from saying that she can always deduct it from his salary...“

Mac couldn't help but smile. „If need be I'll throw mine in as well...“

„Right there with you, kiddo...“ Charlie winked, but then turned serious again. „This is gonna get ugly the next days, Mac. Reporters, the fucking tabloids, serious news outlets... They'll all want to have their share... Are you up to this?“

„I'll manage, don't worry about me. Let me make the staff calls now.“

Charlie looked at her for a moment, looking like he wanted to say more, but then just turned around and walked towards the door. „I'll see you at seven unless something comes up before then.“

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

Will groaned.  
His head was pounding and he felt like he had spent two days straight with an indefinite number of bottles of high-proof booze.

He slowly opened his eyes, expecting glistening sunlight falling through the window front of his bedroom. However he faced an almost completely dark room with only a bare mininum of daylight crawling in through a few cracks in what seemed to be wooden shutters.

Will frowned. He never closed the blinds, and with a second look it became clear that he wasn't in his bedroom. But where was he? And how the hell did he get here?

He didn't seem to be able to focus, but when he tried to get rid of his dizziness by rubbing his face he noticed that his left hand was cuffed and the second loop was hooked to a chain that was attached to the wall. What the fuck...?

He tried to remember what happened and slowly it came back to him.  
A car following them, being hit by another vehicle from the side and blood everywhere.

He quickly checked his body for any wounds. The throbbing in his head seemed to be the result of a nasty laceration on the side of his head where his hair was stuck together by dried blood. In addition he now also became aware of a searing pain in his right shoulder as if it was broken, but no blood there or anywhere else. He must have hit his head during the crash and passed out, and he just hoped that Lonny wasn't hurt too bad.

Right awake now he slowly sat up, trying not to use his right arm, and found himself on top of on an old, stained and moldy smelling mattress. The chain was about five feet long and when he tentatively pulled on it, it became clear that it was firmly attached to the wall. Damn!

With his eyes slowly adjusting to the dim morning light he could make out more of the room he was in. A small window was hammered shut with wooden bars and just as the door on the other side of the room it was too far away for him to be able to get to it while constricted by the chain.

Except for the mattress with a couple of blankets on it there was no other furniture. Next to it he saw six five-gallon containers of water as well as a large stack of packages with shortbread and other cookies, a couple bags of chips and a few apples.  
At least whoever had taken him apparently didn't want him to starve or die of thirst, that was a silver lining. On the other hand it looked like he shouldn't expect any company soon...

Looking at the water again another, rather uncomfortable thought hit him. How was he supposed to...?  
Searching the room with his eyes he noticed two large buckets on the other side of the mattress, each covered with a lit, which obviously were meant to replace a toilet. He swallowed and decided to eat and drink as little as possible...

_Fuck!_

Will slammed his left fist into the mattress. He really hadn't taken the threats seriously but apparently he had been wrong. All of this – the hide-out, the staged accident - must have had involved careful planning; it couldn't have been a spur of the moment thing because of yesterday's broadcast.

He checked his pockets for his cell phone, but naturally they hadn't been so stupid to leave it with him. Then he intently listened for any sounds outside but heard nothing except for a little traffic noise in the far distance. Still he tried to call for help as loud as he could a couple of times, but as expected he didn't attract anybody's attention.

Will sighed. What the fuck was he supposed to do now?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

Mac managed to catch close to an hour of sleep, or to be honest, sleep rather caught up with her while sitting in her chair, but shortly after six in the morning she was awake again, not really feeling refreshed, and went to see Neal.

„Any news?“

Neal turned around. „I found one more clip on Youtube, but it's from pretty much the same angle, so there is nothing new to see. Agent Peters called that everything is sat up in their lab and they know about these videos as well. Nothing on our website or the blog.“

„Neal, you're exhausted. Go get yourself a coffee and after the staff meeting I want you to go home and get some sleep. I'll have Jenna monitor the internet, you can make a list for her which sites she should check.“

„No way! Maybe a couple of hours in the break room, but I won't go home.“

Mac looked at him and then caved in. How could she force Neal to go home when she herself wouldn't hear of it. „Okay, but just know that if you need to rest you can go anytime, okay?“

„Sure.“ But he was already facing his monitor again surfing the web.

Shortly before seven a.m. the staff slowly strolled in, most of them with coffee in their hand, and many yawns were to be seen. This wasn't their usual hour to go to the office and Mac felt bad about only allowing them so little sleep and interrupting even that with her nightly call. She knew they all worked hard and long hours as it was, but the next days would even top that.  
She had them go to the conference room and was waiting for Charlie when Sloan approached her.

„Morning, Kenzie. What's this all about? I never have to come in so early...“ Yawning Sloan rubbed her eyes.

„You'll hear in a minute, Charlie should be down any moment.“

Sloan raised an eyebrow. „What does Charlie have to do with this?“

Mac sighed. „Sloan... please... I can't... In a minute?“

Looking at her intently Sloan slowly nodded and moved to wait with the others. Right then Charlie came in and Mac followed him into the conference room. Everybody turned quiet in anticpation of the news that they were summoned in for, so Charlie cleared his throat and with a quick glance to Mac he began.

„Good morning. We're sorry to drag you in so early but something happened that you need to know about... Last night after the broadcast Will apparently was kidnapped...“

The whole team with the exception of Neal collectively gasped and turned to Mac before starting to talk across each other and firing off question about what had happened. Charlie let them get it out for a couple minutes before lifting his hands to quiet them down.

„It happened last night when Lonny drove Will home after the show. I think it will be best if you look at this video, it basically tells you all we know so far.“  
With this he turned the notebook Neal had set up in front of him to face the group and started the clip he was shown last night. Tamara, Jenna and strangely enough Gary let out a strangled sound at the scene of Will being dragged out of the SUV, but otherwise there was dead silence and nobody said a word.

Afterwards Charlie cleared his throat. „Lonny was unconscious and is in the hospital; we don't know anything about his condition yet. The FBI is investigating and we will get an update later this morning.  
At that point I will also talk to them about how we can report on this. We didn't want to initially, but as it is out already we have to cover it, too. However we will only give out information that has been cleared with the FBI and no one in this room is allowed to talk about this to anybody except it is specifically stated otherwise. There will be only one spokesperson and that will be me, understood?“  
He let his eyes roam the room until everybody nodded and mumbled their affirmation before going on.

„Elliot, you will fill in for Will, Sloan, you will take over ten o'clock until this is over. Mac will cover the details with you and Don later. It's gonna be a hard day, maybe longer until Will is back, but we need to keep the show running. And we may not know the reason for the kidnapping yet, but we will not back off the direction of the show; we will not let fear dictate our program. Does anybody have a problem with this?“ Charlie looked around but nobody spoke up.  
„Okay, then be back here for the first rundown at eleven, there's news to be reported. Mac, be in my office at ten.“

She nodded and got up to go to her own office, followed by Sloan like a bloodhound on a trail. While the room emptied out Charlie called for Jim.

„Jim, come here for a minute, please.“ Jim said a few more words to Kendra he was talking to and then walked over to Charlie, who lowered his voice to a level where he was barely understandable.

„Jim, I can't ask Mac to do this, but we need to get something ready in case...“ He drew a deep breath. „In case Will isn't coming back... Can you compile something about Will's life and career, about five to eight minutes long, without Mac getting any wind of it? She doesn't need to know about this unless we really need it...“

Swallowing hard the young man nodded, albeit not looking very happy. „Will do... Though that's one piece I truly hope never goes on the air... Is Mac alright?“

„She's holding up for now... All we can do is hope that the FBI will find him fast...“ Charlie patted Jim on the shoulder before leaving the room and heading for the elevator.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

When Mac entered her office Sloan was right behind her. Taking a seat on the opposite site of the desk she looked at her friend who had fallen into her chair and leaned her head against the back, eyes closed.

„Kenzie...? Have you been here all night? Did you get any sleep?“

Mac sighed and slightly nodded her head. „Yeah, I did sleep a little... Are you okay doing Elliot's show tonight?“

„Of course. But I'm not here about me, is there anything I can do for you? You look horrible.“ At the quirk of Mac's eyebrow she quickly added „Sorry, I didn't meant to... Fuck, you know what I mean. How are you?“

„Scared shitless...“ MacKenzie whispered after a moment. „Who knows if I'll ever see him again?“

In an instant Sloan was out of the chair, walked around the desk and kneeled by Mac's side, taking her hand. „You mustn't think that, Mac! Will is going to be alright. He _is_ alright and he will be back soon.“

Mac managed a sad smile. „That's what I keep telling myself. Now I only have to believe it...“

„Kenzie, he _will be_ alright! And I'm here for you, you know that, right? If there's anything you need, you'll let me know, okay?“

Mac nodded and squeezed her hand. „I will, thanks, Sloan.“

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

Shortly before ten a.m. Mac went up to Charlie's office. She hadn't gotten much work done, but thankfully Jim had taken charge of the bullpen and had everything under control, so that she only had to pitch in on a few things.

Without saying a word she sat down in a chair, anxiously checking her watch every few seconds. Finally, a few minutes after ten there was a knock at the door and Millie opened it for Agent Benton.

Immediately Mac and Charlie jumped to their feet.

„Do you have any news?“

„Did you find him?“

The agent shook his head. „Good morning. So far we have made some progress with some of our leads but unfortunately not the big breakthrough we need. The car ramming the SUV was reported stolen two days ago. It is in our lab right now and if there is anything to find, they will not miss it. The license plate of the getaway car was unreadable, they had smudged it with dirt. We did put out a BOLO, but chances that it will be found are rather slim, there are just too many dark minivans in the city.“

Charlie interrupted him. „Last night you said you would comb the traffic cam footage for the car. Do you know where it went?“

„We are working on that, but up to now there're no leads. Once we do have a first hit though and we know the direction they took, this search will progress much faster, as the amount of footage we need to go through will drop considerably.  
At the moment we can only say that the kidnappers are males, two of them probably medium age athletic types, the third a little older, overweight and with dark hair.  
My people have also started digging into the threats, but nothing there yet, either. It helps that you set up a verification process for anyone writing on your website, it makes it easier for us to separate the types of threats. So far we cannot link any of them to known radical groups, militias or similar. Most have been written by disgruntled viewers using their real names, who just wanted to blow off steam via the internet. This type is very unlikely to actually do anything in reality. Still, we'll continue checking.  
I assume neither of you has been contacted in any way yet?“

He looked at them and they both shook their heads. Charlie walked around his desk and took a seat, pointing to Agent Benton to sit down as well. He thankfully accepted, while Mac chose to stay standing and walked over to the window to lean against it, arms crossed in front of her chest and asking „Do you have any news about Lonny? How is he doing?“

„Mr. Church was in surgery for several hours. He has some broken bones, lacerations and a severe concussion, but the problem was internal bleeding and a broken rib that punctured his lung.“ Mac inhaled sharply, but didn't interrupt.  
„The doctor's say he is in a stable condition now but he hasn't woken up yet. We have an agent stationed at the hospital who will take his statement as soon as possible.“

„I'd like to visit him as soon as the doctors allow it. What hospital is he in?“

„Presbyterian. I'll ask the agent to call you once the doctors give their okay.“

Mac gave him a light smile. „Thanks.“

Then Charly spoke up. „Agent Benton, the news about the kidnapping is out thanks to the fucking social media, and it will only be a matter of time until other stations and the newspapers will pick it up. This leaves us no choice but to report on it as well, but we naturally do not want to obstruct your investigation. What exactly can we report so far?“

After a short moment Benton answered Charlie, looking from him to Mac and back. „The videos are out, so there is no harm in showing them on TV. Otherwise, the less is said about the angles we're working, the better. I would suggest that you only say that the FBI is involved and is following several leads. Don't mention the threats or that ACN is prepared to pay ransom, we don't want any copycats.“

Charlie nodded and wanted to add something when Benton's phone rang. He apologized himself getting up and walked to the other end of the room to answer it. Mac and Charlie watched him closely, but he hardly said anything more than a few 'okay's' before ending the call with „Alright, I'll be there shortly.“

Hanging up he turned around. „That was my team. There was a hit on the BOLO; the minivan has been found abandoned in a deserted alley in Harlem.“


	4. Chapter 4

„So you found the getaway vehicle but have no idea where the kidnappers took Will.“ Charlie summarized in a matter-of-fact tone.

„For now.“ Agent Benton admitted. „But the car itself can reveal important information and the kidnappers have likely swapped the vehicle, so we will check all traffic camera footage in that area and if need be we will follow up on every single car it shows us. Like I said, we will...“

Right then Charlie's cell phone rang. „Blocked number.“ He looked up at Benton, who took a step towards him.

„You know the drill, my agents walked you through it. Put it on speaker.“

Charlie did as he was told and answered the call. „Hello?“

„ _Mr. Skinner...“_ A voice that was clearly distorted by some technical equipment filled the room and instinctively Mac wanted to get closer to the desk, but Benton held her back and signaled her to not make a sound.  
_„A good friend of yours asked us to call you. If you want to see him again you will do as we say.“_

„What friend?“ Charlie asked.

„ _Well, well, Mr. Skinner, don't play dumb. We have your star anchor Will McAvoy and if you want to have him back you will do as we say.“_

Benton signaled Charlie to keep the caller in the line as long as he could, so he asked „How do I know you really have him? I want to talk to him.“

„ _I'm afraid that won't be possible, but we will send you proof in a minute. If you want to see him again be prepared to pay 4.5 million dollars in non-sequential numbers. We will call you again with the details.“_ With this the caller hung up, but a moment later they heard the sound of an incoming message.

When Charlie opened it he held his breath for a second before he showed his phone to Benton and Mac, displaying a picture of Will. From the looks of it, it was taken in the back of a car and Will, his face covered with blood, seemed to be unconscious.

Mac gasped and with a pale face she reached for the phone, but Agent Benton beat her to it. Already typing he informed them that he would forward the picture to his lab for analysis before handing it back to Charlie. Then he dialed a number on his phone.

„Carl, I just forwarded a photograph that was sent to Mr. Skinner. Top priority, everything you can get from it. Were you able to trace the phone call?... Uh-huh... Uh-huh... I see. Check the cameras and put alternate surveillance in place... Okay, call me when you've got something.“ Hanging up he turned back to Charlie.

„The call was just long enough and they traced it to a phone booth in the vicinitiy of the Yankee Stadium. They made a double mistake with that. First of all there is extensive video surveillance in that area and secondly the safer option would have been to use a prepaid phone. Funnily enough they apparently had one at hand as they sent the picture with it. We will watch the area in case they use the same phone again for their next call.  
I have to go meet my guys in Harlem now. Can you take care of getting the money ready, Mr. Skinner? Just in case?“

„I will get right on it.“

„Okay, I'll contact you later. Ms. McHale.“ Benton nodded in her direction and left the office.

Mac and Charlie stayed silent for a moment.  
„Charlie, will you please forward the picture to my phone?“

He looked at her intently before he shook his head and softly said „No, MacKenzie. That wouldn't do you any good, you would just obsess about it...“

Mac stared back at him, biting her lower lip and swallowing hard to prevent a tear from falling. Without another word she turned around and left for her own office.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

The next time Will woke up he wasn't feeling quite as dizzy as before, but his head was still throbbing. He was sure he had a pretty bad concussion, so he assumed he actually had to be thankful that he had nothing else to do except sleeping or at least lying still and keeping his eyes closed.

But now he was awake and nope, it hadn't been a dream. He was still chained to the wall and the look of the room hadn't changed. He sighed.

Why the fuck didn't he take the threats seriously?  
Although, on second thought, he did have a security detail on him, even if it hadn't been his idea... God, he hoped Lonny was alright... All this blood in the car...

And Mac was surely going crazy, especially with the American Taliban remark from last night. He knew she would beat herself up about this, despite of him having brought it up first. Hopefully Charlie could calm her down...

Mac... Will closed his eyes.  
She didn't know what he was quite certain of – That the kidnappers didn't seem to want to do him any harm or they wouldn't have left him with water and food. He realized that didn't mean that something couldn't still go wrong, but at least his chances didn't seem to be too bad... But Mac didn't know and she had to be out of her mind not having any idea of what had happend to him and where he was.

Will pulled himself up to sit against the wall and picked up one of the cookie boxes. He was getting hungry and nausea in addition to his headache didn't sound very appealing, so he started to nibble on a chocolate chip cookie before letting his thoughts drift back to Mac.

If his head wasn't hurting so bad he might be able to figure out why apparently nothing between them could go smoothly....  
He is ready to propose - She confesses to having cheated on him... He leaves her a voicemail message admitting his love - Her phone gets hacked, so she never gets it... He learns about that and tries to figure out if and how to tell her about the message - And is being kidnapped...

How the fuck were they supposed to _ever_ work it out at this rate?

He sighed again. He had to to something about it as soon as he was out of here – The recent events had only shown how quickly life can change, and he didn't want to miss this chance her return allowed for.

He just hoped, it wasn't too late.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

Finally Mac had been pretty much able to put the image of Will covered in blood into the back of her head and at least partly focus on her work.

Jim had been in her office after the first rundown meeting to discuss the upcoming show in further detail and tried to carefully convey his support in the course of their discussion. He knew better than to push her, knew that she was no one to rely on others, always trying to get through rough situations on her own. And sure as hell she hadn't let him in on her pain, still holding up her composure.

Otherwise none of the others had come in. They were all trying not to bother her, although she could tell that everybody, especially Sloan and Maggie, were worried sick.

It was mid-afternoon and she was just finishing up a report when there was a knock at her door. Looking up she saw a middle-aged woman standing in the doorframe and quickly got up.

„Vic! I didn't know that you were coming!“ Mac hurried over and pulled her into a tight embrace. She had always gotten along very well with Will's youngest sister Victoria and even though they hadn't seen each other in a long time they kept in touch sporadically via e-mail and the occasional phone call. „It's so good to see you.“

„I just couldn't stay in Nebraska.“ Vic returned the hug. „I've just been up at Mr. Skinner's – Charlie's – office and he brought me up to speed. How are you doing, Mac?“

„Holding up so far...“ Mac tried to sound convincing and gave Vic a small smile. „How about you? Is Mary here as well?“

„No,“ Vic shook her head. „She couldn't get away. There's some stuff going on with the kids this week, so I said I would go.“

„I'm glad you're here.“ Mac smiled shortly before going on. „So, you heard about the ransom note?“

„Yeah... Who would do something like that?“

„I wish I knew...“ Mac sighed. „Vic, listen – I still have a lot of work to do for the show tonight. Maybe we can meet after?“

„Actually... I will be staying at Will's apartment and I wanted to ask you if maybe... you would like to keep me company? If you don't mind...? The FBI will keep me informed, so you immediately know if anything comes up and I... I really don't want to be alone there.“

Mac hesitated, not knowing if Will would be alright with that, but seeing the hopeful look in Vic's eyes she gave in and nodded.  
„Why don't you stay here and watch the show, either here in my office or from the control room and then we can leave together afterwards?“

„I would love that.“ Vic smiled relieved. „Why don't I just quietly sit in a corner and let you get back to your work? It's a lovely day, is the terrace still open to visitors? Will took me there the last time I was here.“

Mac nodded. „It definitely is. Let me get you a cup of coffee and then I'll show you the way.“

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

About an hour before the show Charlie came down to see Mac.

„I just had a call from Agent Benton: Lonny is awake.“

Mac's head shot up. „Is he okay?“

Charlie smiled. „It will take some time, but he will be alright... He said he had noticed somebody following them and just wanted to inform his colleagues when the fucking crash happened. He thinks they might have been following them from this building here, so the FBI is pulling our security tapes right now to see if anything is on there. Let's hope they'll find something...“ He let his eyes gaze over Mac's face. „Are you up to doing the show tonight? Jim could do it for you?“

„I'm _fine_ , Charlie.“ Her voice didn't hide her impatience. „Why is everybody treating me as if I am about to fall apart any minute?“

He stepped closer towards her and put his hand on her arms. „I know you're strong, Mac, but I also know that Will's not just your colleague. No matter what's between the two of you right now, he never will be, so if you need to step back a little that would be no problem, understood?“

„I will not desert our show, Charlie. And if you can handle it, I can, too.“ She ended that statement with a very determined look on her face.

„I know you can,“ he answered softly. „But you don't have to... I was a marine, I was trained for stressful situations like this.“

Mac straightened her back. „And _I_ was embedded with marines and believe me, that was no picnic either. I can handle it, Charlie.“

After a moment he nodded. „Alright. Just don't push yourself too far... Oh, I almost forgot: The FBI said, come tomorrow Lonny can receive visitors.“

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

Today's show wasn't one of the best but given the circumstances it was alright, and as the news of Will's abduction had been public they sure could count on good ratings, though Mac definitely didn't care about that. Afterwards she quickly grabbed the go-bag from her office and met Vic at the elevator.

After picking up some pre-ordered take-out they went on to Will's apartment, where the FBI had cleared them with the concierge who let them in.  
As both of them had been there before, they managed to quickly set up the table without having to search for plates and cutlery and ate while tacitly agreeing to not talk about the kidnapping for now. Instead they caught up on what had happened since the last time they had talked a few months ago.

Later Mac got settled in the guestroom while Vic brought her bag into Will's bedroom. Suddenly she called. „Mac? I think you would want to see this...“

Mac curiously went over and met Vic, who was carrying a middle-sized box, half way in the living room. „What have you got there?“

Vic gave her a strange look. „I was looking for some photographs of Will, I know he keeps them in the back of his closet. That's where I found this...“ She lifted the lid of the carton and showed it to Mac. Looking inside she gasped and with trembling hands she reached for it, carrying it over to the couch. The box was filled with pictures of her, together with Will and alone, letters she had written to him, programs of shows and plays they had visited and other mementos from their relationship.

Slowly she pulled out one after another and a tear glistened in the corner of her eye.  
„I can't believe he's kept all of this... Even took it with him to this apartment when he moved....“ She gently let her finger run over a wooden frame containing one of Will's favorite pictures of them, taken at the ACN New Year's Eve party almost six years ago.

Vic sat down next to her. „Mac, I know you never wanted to say anthing more except that the breakup was your fault, but maybe now is the time to talk about it? Will sure never said anything about the reason, but I do know that he is still suffering like hell...“

Keeping the picture frame in her hand Mac slowly scooted back on the couch and pulled her legs up under her. Finally she sighed, not taking her eyes of Will.  
„Right at the beginning of our relationship I made a terrible mistake and... I cheated on Will with an ex-boyfriend...“ Vic inhaled sharply, but didn't say anything.

„It's no excuse but at that time it didn't feel to me like I was cheating on Will, rather the other way around... Brian and I had only broken up shortly before I started dating Will and I was still hung up on him. Only when I was back with him again I realized that I had fallen in love with Will, and I never saw Brian again.“

Vic couldn't help but ask. „So why did it take two years from then on for you guys to break up?“

Mac smiled ruefully. „Because...well, some would say I was an idiot... I told Will. We were getting more and more serious and I couldn't live with it anymore. I felt the only chance for our relationship to evolve further was to tell him the truth... I just never imagined him reacting like that; he wouldn't even hear me out...“

„Oh Mac...“ Vic took her her hand and squeezed it for a moment. For a minute they both remained silent, but then she asked „Did Will ever tell you about our childhood?“

Mac looked up from the picture. „Not really. I know that it wasn't exactly easy and that your father got physical once in a while, but he doesn't like to talk about it.“

Vic nodded. „He never did, but at least you got the light version, others don't know anything about this....“ She took a deep breath.  
„Mac, our father was an abusive drunk who beat us up, especially our mother and Will as the oldest and the only boy.“ Mac gasped but Vic went on. „Will was the best brother we could wish for. He often took the rap for Mary and me or just stepped up to protect us, so he got whacked instead.“

„Oh my God...“

„Yeah... It wasn't a childhood you wish anybody... Let's just say, the broken bones and scars he's got didn't all result from high school sports... I don't even remember a time when we didn't have to watch out not to laugh too loud or leave anything in our father's way to not make him mad. That was until Will was about twelve or thirteen. He was tall for his age and did a lot of sports, and one night he hit back. And from then on our father never touched us again.“

A tear rolled down Mac's cheek. „How did you deal with it?“

„Like I said, Mary and I didn't get the full scale. Most of the time Will was there for us and we will forever be in his debt for that... But for him... it was – is – difficult, still today. The people who were supposed to be always there for us, weren't. Our father hurt and belittled us and our mother couldn't protect us from him. And especially for Will this resulted in severe trust issues. A friend of mine is a psychologist and she explained it to me once... It must have cost him a lot to open up to you like he did, so when you confessed to cheating on him I assume he just saw you as another person that had betrayed his trust, no matter how long ago it was...“

Mac openly cried now and her fingers tightly clutched the frame she was still holding. „Poor Billy... If I had only known...“

„You have to give him time, Mac. He loves you, I know that. He might not want to, but he does. And why else would he hold on to all these things? If you keep on being there for him he will trust you again one day...“

Mac gave her a hopeful look. „How did you get over it?“

Vic didn't say anything for a moment. „Who said we did? It's always there, in the back of our heads, but at least we had Will, we knew we could always count on him... Mary and I are still living in the same town as our father and I guess we have learned to be civil towards him. We don't have a relationship, but we can have an every day-conversation when we meet. I guess it helped that we didn't get the full force of his anger as Will did...“ She sighed. „We owe him so much and I feel so sorry that this past now also screws up the rest of his life...“

This time Mac squeezed Victoria's hand. „I'll be there for him, Vic, whether he wants me to or not. At least now I understand many things better... But..." She shook her head. "No, I think it's time to call it a night... Would you mind if I took the box with me?“

Vic smiled. „Of course not. Have a good night and try to get some sleep. I'm sure tomorrow we'll get some good news.“

Mac got up and quickly gave Vic another hug. „I'm glad you came.“


	5. Chapter 5

When Mac woke up in the morning she was exhausted.  
Before going to sleep she had taken some time to look through the box Vic had given her. She hadn't been sure if Will would be okay with it, but as each and every item was also part of her own past she had quickly gotten over it and had let her thoughts go back to those days long gone.

For quite some time she had just looked at a picture of her and Will that a passerby had taken during a walk in Central Park. She was laughing at him, her hair flying in the wind, and Will looked at her with pure love and amazement shining in his eyes.  
She remembered that day well; it had been the Labour Day weekend and they had been so incredibly happy. Never would she have imagined that everything would be over only a few months later.

When she finally had turned off the light sleep didn't come. Thoughts about Will's kidnapping, his childhood Vic had told her about and their past were swirling in her head, and she just couldn't relax enough to drift off.

Thinking back to one of their early nights she remembered how she had taken inventory of Will's body, touching and kissing him from head to toe. She'd lingered over every scar she encountered, some small, some larger, and had him tell her how he had gotten it. Never had he told her that any of them were caused by his father though. According to him they had all been results of playing football or baseball, falling from a tree or hurting himself with tools while working on the farm.

She understood why he hadn't opened up to her that early in their relationship, but she wished that he had been able to trust her enough and had somehow found the courage to let her in at a later stage.  
She wasn't sure if that would have changed anything, for she knew she still would have needed to tell him about Brian, but had she known what she knew now, she would have dealt with it differently. She would have made sure that before saying anything else he had _known_ how much she loved him, emphasizing that they didn't have the same relationship in the beginning as at the time she told him, that they had just been dating back then... Instead she had just blurted it out and Will had shut down, not wanting to hear any excuses or explanations, and that had been it.

If she could just figure out what this damn voicemail message had said he had left three months ago!  
She was hoping something along the line of him having forgiven her, but looking back at how he had treated her over the past months that didn't make sense... Bringing Brian in... She just couldn't understand it, especially as the weeks before that they had gotten along so well...

Finally, in the early morning she had fallen into a fitful asleep, but when the alarm of her Blackberry went off at 7:30 a.m. she didn't feel rested at all. Groaning she turned her head into the pillow to savor a few more minutes under the warm blanket when she remembered the events of the previous days.

Immediately her mind was filled with concern for Will again. She knew if anything had come up Vic or Charlie would have told her, so she was fairly certain that there hadn't been any new development. Then she remembered that Lonny was allowed to receive visitors today and this thought finally made her get up.

She went into the kitchen to start the coffee machine before going back to the guest room to take a shower. By the time she was dressed Vic was already waiting for her, sitting at the kitchen counter.

„Morning, Mac! Thanks for the coffee, I just couldn't resist."

Mac smiled at her while pouring herself a cup. „I couldn't do without; it's the only thing that gets me out of bed in the morning." She sat down next to Vic and appreciatively took the first sip. „So, what are your plans today?"

„I have an appointment with Agent Benton this morning, but otherwise I assume I'll just kill some time doing some shopping. Being in New York is a good opportunity to pep up my wardrobe and it's not like I have anything else to do except wait for any news..." Vic sighed. „When do you have to be at work?"

„The first rundown meeting is at eleven. But I want to go and see Lonny, Will's bodyguard, at the hospital before. And I need to go home to pick up some clothes; if you want me stay here tonight as well, that is?

„I would really appreciate it. I could cook dinner?"

„Sold! I don't get a home-cooked meal too often. But I've got to go now or I won't be at work on time. Call me if anything comes up." Mac quickly gave Vic a kiss on the cheek, grabbed her bag and left the apartment.

:::::::::::::::::::::::  


After picking up some clean clothes she took a cab to Presbyterian and asked for Lonny's room. She had to wait a few minutes due to the doctors on their medical round but when they left his room she slipped in through the open door.

Lonny had his eyes closed, so Mac took a moment to just look at him. His left leg was in a cast, his face and arms were covered with lacerations and bruises, the larger ones covered up, and he was hooked up to two IVs, one appearently a morphine drip. She was glad she already knew that he was going to be fine, because his outer appearance didn't really convey that message.

When Mac moved to sit down in the chair next to his bed Lonny stirred and slowly opened his eyes, blinking a couple of times. When he recognized his visitor a strained smile showed on his face. „Ms. McHale, I didn't expect to see you."

Mac leaned forward. „It's Mac, Lonny. And why wouldn't I be here?" She carefully squeezed his hand. „How are you feeling?"

„Like I've been run over by a truck?" Groaning he tried to get into a more upright position and Mac quickly got up to give him a hand. „Don't strain yourself, Lonny."

„I'm fine, thanks." He sighed. „Listen, Ms. McHale..."

„Mac."

„Mac." Lonny conceded. „I'm sorry about what happened. I should have checked more thoroughly if anybody was following us. Somebody must have let the driver of the other car know that we were approaching that intersection. If I had caught on to them earlier..."

„It's okay, Lonny." Mac assured him. „Nobody is blaming you, on the contrary. If you hadn't been suspiscious and tried to contact your company you might not have gotten to the hospital in time and the FBI couldn't have started its work immediately."

Lonny didn't say anything for a moment but took a sip of water instead. Then he slowly formulated his thoughts into words. „That might be, Ms... Mac. But if I had done my job right, it wouldn't even had happened at all and everybody would be fine."

„In hindsight everybody is smarter, please don't beat yourself up. Everything _will_ be alright. You are gonna be okay and Will will be released as soon as the ransom is paid."  
As certain as Mac was about Lonny going to be fine, she so very much hoped that the second part of that sentence was true as well. She tried to undermine her words with a confident smile, but Lonny looked right through her and returned it sympathetically.

„You know, Mac... I've been with him for quite some time now, and as his shadow I'm privy to many situations and conversations he probably rather didn't want me to hear. I'm not allowed to actually repeat anything, but I think I can say that you shouldn't give up on him. Just keep doing what you're doing, he's working on it..."

Now her smile turned genuine and she took his hand again. „Thanks, Lonny, that means a lot... Listen, I have to get to work, but... do you need anything? I don't even know... Do you have family here or are your friends helping you out? If not I'll gladly..."

Lonny interrupted her. „I appreciate that, Mac, but I'm fine. My mother will probably bring so much food that I can share it with the entire hospital and my fiancé will take care of the rest."

„Okay, great. But I'll definitely be back to see you." She leaned in to give Lonny a kiss on the cheek. „Get some rest now... And Lonny? _Thank you._ "

  
With a last touch to his hand and a smile she turned around and left the room.

:::::::::::::::::::::::  
  


The dim light falling through the cracks in the wood covering the window indicated the beginning of yet another day, telling Will that he survived the second night in this rotten hellhole.

The dizziness and headache had ceased further, but strangely enough he wasn't really feeling better.  
He had almost gotten used to the constant, dull ache in his shoulder that turned into a sharp pain when he tried to move his arm or thoughtlessly put his weight on it, so he avoided that as much as possible.

But concentrating on his body he now realised that his head wound was throbbing. Just lifting his hand to that area he could sense a searing heat radiating from it and when he carefully touched the spot it felt much more sensitive than before.

 _Fuck_ , he should have cleaned it right when he noticed it, he did have enough water at his disposal. Now apparently it was infected - No wonder, seeing the dirty room and stained mattress he was lying on.

Shit, _that_ surely wasn't good...

:::::::::::::::::::::::  
  


When Mac arrived at the newsroom, a little later than usual, Sloan was already waiting for her, looking out of the window. Seeing her sitting in the chair in front of her desk, Mac stopped for a second, but then sighed and entered her office.

„Good morning, Sloan." While she walked to her desk Sloan's head spun around with a relieved smile.  
„Kenzie! Where were you? You're late, and you're never late. I was worried."

„Well, actually I don't have to be in before 10 a.m. And now it is... „ Mac looked at the watch on her wrist and smirked „... 9:57 a.m... I just stopped on the way to see Lonny at the hospital." She took off her jacket and switched on her computer before taking a seat.

„Oh, how is he?"

„He's gonna be fine. Still in pain, though."

„Poor guy... Could he tell you anything?" Sloan asked hopefully, but Mac just shook her head.  
„"We didn't really talk about what actually happened. I just wanted to see that he is alright and let him know that we're there for him in case he needs anything."

„That was nice, Mac."

She shrugged. „He risked his life for Will, he deserves it. And besides... I like him."

„Yeah..." Sloan agreed dreamily. „What a body... I tapped his chest once, you know?"

„Sloan!" Mac snorted with laughter which then turned into a giggle. „He does look... nice, doesn't he?"

Her friend winked at her before turning serious. „Good to see you laugh, Mac. How was your night?"

„Short. I spent the evening with Will's sister and then didn't really sleep well..." She sighed. „Listen, Sloan, I need to go see Charlie before preparing for the first rundown. Did you want anything else?"

„Nuuh... Just wanted to let you know that I'm here for you."

„I know, thanks." With a smile Mac got up, squeezed Sloan's shoulder in passing and left her office to go upstairs. Charlie however didn't have any news for her, but promised to let her know immediately as soon as he heard anything.

:::::::::::::::::::::::  
  


When she came out of the rundown meeting a little after noon he was already waiting in her office. „I got a call about fifteen minutes ago. The money drop is today..." His expression changed to concern. „Mac, they want _you_ to make the drop..."

She gasped. „ _What?_ "

„I'm sorry, I tried to talk him out of it but the fucking bastard didn't give me a chance." Charlie took a step towards her, but she gave him a forced smile.

„It's okay... I can do it."

„I guess we don't have a choice... Jim will have to take over today; the FBI wants you to go to down to their office and they will prep you."

Mac hesitantly nodded. „Will you... would you go with me?"

He smiled. „Of course... Come here." Taking her into his arms for a warm hug he whispered „You're gonna do fine, MacKenzie."  
She sighed into his shirt and took a deep breath before straightening herself up again. „Just let me talk to Jim for a moment and then I'll be ready to go."

:::::::::::::::::::::::  
  


On the way to the FBI she quickly called Vic to let her know about the latest development, and they arranged to meet at AWM after the drop to wait for news.

On arrival at 26 Federal Plaza they were met by Agent Benton.

„Ms. McHale, we appreciate you coming here and especially for agreeing to do this. It is a standard drop, so there shouldn't be any danger for you.  
The instructions were clear: You have to go to a specific bench near the Shakespeare Garden in Central Park at 5:15 p.m., sit there for about 10 minutes, reading a book and eating a sandwich you take out of a paper bag that also contains the money. Then you are to leave that paper bag with the money in the wastebin next to the bench and just walk away. That sounds easy enough, doesn't it?"

Mac nodded, but then had to ask. „What happens if I get new instructions while I'm waiting there?"

„You will be wearing a wire and we will place several teams in the vicinity, keeping an eye on you as well as the money. If you do get new orders they will follow you until you make the drop, alternating between the teams, changing their distances and appearences so that nobody notices that you are being followed. Same when the money is picked up. We will place an almost undetectable GPS tracker with the money and trail the kidnappers. Hopefully they'll lead us right to the place where they are holding Mr. McAvoy."

„ _Almost_ undetectable?" Charlie interrupted.

„It's smaller than a grain of rice. One has to specifically look out for it and know exactly where to look to be able to find it. Are you okay with this?" Agent Benton looked at Mac.

„I guess... I mean, it isn't the first time you are doing this, right? I just don't want anything to happen to Will."

The FBI agent smiled reassuringly. „We do have some experience with this. Naturally every case is different but from everything we've seen so far this kidnapping seems to follow 'standard procedures', if I may say so, and chances are good that this will go down very smoothly.  
But... If you don't want to do this there is always the possibility to take a female agent of similar built, wearing a disguise so she resembles you. However, as the kidnappers specifically asked for you there is a chance that they know you or at least know how you look, and they could figure it out..."

Mac shook her head. „No, it's fine, I will do it. It can't be more dangerous than walking through a group of protesters in Islamabad."

 _'Which almost got you fucking killed, kiddo.'_ Charlie thought, but he didn't say anything. He knew that Mac would do this for Will no matter how risky it was for herself.

After Mac had been wired, all arrangements had been made and she was briefed over and over so that she knew exactly what to do, they drove back to AWM. They had decided that she should start the ride to Central Park from there in case she was being watched. As she didn't want to meet the staff right now she joined Charlie on the ride up to his office where she spent the thirty minutes she had left before leaving for the park.

Riding in an AWM car, the driver being a FBI agent, Mac nervously clutched the backpack containing a book as well as the paper bag and was glad she didn't have to take the subway carrying all that money.

The driver dropped her off on 79th St Transverse crossing the park and it only was a short walk to the bench she was supposed to sit on. She forced herself not to pay any special attention to other people in the area to not alert anybody to the agents mingling with the crowd.  
As it was a warm August day there were many people enjoying themselves, from families pushing strollers, dogwalkers and joggers to teenagers with their skateboards and elderly citizens enjoying a relaxing walk, and Mac sincerely hoped that nobody would suspect any of them to work for the FBI.

Sitting down on the bench Mac did as she was told and took a book as well as the paper bag out of her backpack. After taking the sandwich and unwrapping it she picked up the book and opened it about a third in. Staring at the pages she didn't manage to read a single word, so she concentrated on counting the minutes and turning a page once in a while instead.

After about eleven minutes she closed the book with a snap and put it back in her backpack. Then she got up, dropped the paper bag in the wastebin and walked away without turning back.

Once in the car the whole situation caught up with her and she started shaking all over. What if the drop failed? What if the kidnappers didn't get the money? What if they had killed Will after all?

Back at AWM she was a nervous wrack, but still managed to thank the driving agent who assured her that Agent Benton would call Charlie as soon as there were any news, so she rode the elevator straight up to the 44th floor and entered his office without even bothering to knock.

Charlie jumped up immediately and came towards her with long strides. „Are you alright? Did everything go as planned?"  
Still shaking Mac threw her arms around him and nodded. „I did everything I was supposed to do, but I'm so scared they are just playing us..."

„Don't be..." Charlie tried to sooth her. „We've got to have faith. We did everything they fucking asked for, they _have to_ release Will now. You'll see, not long and Agent Benton will call." With this he pulled back a little and looked in her face. „Say, did you eat that sandwich like you were supposed to do?"

Mac wiped a single tear from her eye. „I nibbled on it and then threw it away with the paper bag. I was so nervous, I couldn't eat a single bite."

„I thought so, and you probably haven't eaten all day, have you?" Charlie didn't wait for an answer but stepped to his desk and ordered a tray of sandwiches, a salad and some fruit from the executive dining room to be delivered to his office asap. Then he turned around to Mac again. „Drink?"

„Please, I could use one now..."

Vic arrived about a quarter of an hour later, giving Mac a long and tight hug, and together they waited for the FBI to call. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours while hardly a word was spoken, and with every passing moment it was getting harder for Mac to hide her anxiety.

Finally, at 9:32 p.m., Charlie's phone rang and he immediately answered. „Hello?"  
He listend for a moment and then turned around to the women, covering the microphone of his Blackberry:

„They've got 'em!"


	6. Chapter 6

„ _They've got 'em“  
_

* * *

 

Immediately Mac and Vic jumped up, but before they could say anything Charlie raised his hand and intently listened to the person on the other line.

„Uh-huh... Uh-huh...Great... _What?_ But how... Well, you better! When... Okay.... No, his sister is right here, I'll let her know. Call me, day or night!“ With this he hung up and slowly turned around to the two women.

„And?“ Mac asked anxiously.

Charlie sighed. „They followed the guy that picked up the money in the park to their hideout. When they raided the place they caught the three kidnappers by surprise and could take them into custody without any resistence.“

„What about Will?“ Vic looked at him with narrowed eyes.

„He wasn't there...“

„Oh my God...“ Mac and Vic said simultaneously, before Mac shakily added „Do you... do they think they k-killed him?“

„Hey!“ Charlie took a step and pulled her in his arms. „They are probably just hiding him somewhere else. The FBI will find out, don't you worry. They are being interrogated right now.“ He cradled her head on his shoulder and gently swayed from left to right, while trying to reassure Vic with his eyes.

After a few minutes he went on. „They will call as soon as they know anything, but that can take a while. Why don't we go to my place, that'd be more comfortable?“

Mac finally took a step back and nodded without looking up, but Vic intervened. „Let's go to Will's apartment. I planned on cooking for Mac tonight and already went groceries shopping. I don't really feel like eating but it would at least distract me...?“

„That's fine with me. Mac?“  
Sensing Vic's and Charlie's eyes on her she looked up and nodded again with a forced smile. „Let's go.“

Just like earlier that day they went down to the underground parking garage and got into Charlie's car there to avoid the reporters that were camped outside AWM since the news of Will's kidnapping had gone public.  
The whole ride over to Will's place Mac was unusually quiet. Not that Charlie and Vic were chattering away, but they at least spoke a few words once in a while, whereas Mac didn't say a single thing, deep in thought and absently kneading her hands.

She had set all her hope in the kidnappers releasing Will as long as they did as they were told and the ransom was paid. Now more and more thoughts about him being dead were surfacing, either from the injuries sustained in the accident or having been killed by the kidnappers. She couldn't help it, what other explanation was there?  
Okay, Charlie had said something about him being hidden elsewhere, but where was the sense in that? Surely those bastards would have wanted to have him near for a quick escape or at least for leverage?

When they arrived at Will's Vic disappeared in the kitchen while Mac went out on the terrace to be alone, but after filling a couple of glasses Charlie joined her.

„Mac...“

„Don't, Charlie.“ she interrupted harshly. „I know what you want to say, but right now nothing can help me... I'm just so fucking scared.“ Her voice had gone down to a whisper while admitting to this, and she didn't object when Charlie stepped up next to her and put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his side while letting his gaze roam across the city.

„Somewhere out there Will is waiting to be found, Mac. And they _will_ find him and then he'll need you. I will be there for him and so will his sisters, but you two... What you have is special and believe me, one fucking day he'll gonna wake up. You have to be strong...“

Tears dwelled up in Mac's eyes. „I can't tell you how many times over the past years I have wished I could turn back time, Charlie. But I can't and I don't know if he'll ever be able to forgive me and maybe even love me again....“

He chuckled. „It's really amazing that somehow the two of you seem to be the only ones not realizing just _how much_ he loves you. And we really don't have to talk about your feelings towards him... It would actually be funny if it wasn't so tragic.“ He sighed and gently squeezed her shoulder. „You wait and see, it'll work out...“

„From your lips to God's ears.“ Mac quietly mumbled before straightening herself up. „Let's go inside and help Vic, she shouldn't be alone.“

„I'll be right with you, I just want to call Nancy to let her know about what happened today.“

Mac smiled, she had always liked Charlie's wife. „Give her my best, will you?“ With this she turned and went back into the apartment to help Will's sister. Vic looked up from draining the pasta she was preparing and gave Mac a strained smile. „Any news?“

„No, I'm sorry...“ She sighed. „I just hope I didn't do anything wrong this afternoon...“

Vic shook her head in reply. „I'm sure you didn't, otherwise they wouldn't have picked up the money... I talked to Mary a few minutes ago and she sends her love. We have decided when Will is home you guys have to come to Nebraska for a family get-together; it's been such a long time.“

„Let's have him home first...“ Mac murmered and quickly walked over to set the table, so that Vic wouldn't see the look on her face. Despite Charlie's little speech and Vic's notorious optimism she was still expecting the worst, but like never before in her life she was praying that she was wrong.

A couple minutes later Vic was finished in the kitchen and Mac went to get Charlie. The meal – Tortellini with a ham, mushroom and cream sauce made from scratch – was delicious, but neither of them was very hungry. They exchanged a few words about their day, but what was more important was that they were not alone and supported each other.

It was almost midnight when they finished their late dinner and just when Mac was helping Vic by clearing the table and putting the leftovers in the fridge, Charlie's cell phone rang. The two women froze, watching him with wide eyes as he slowly pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered the call.

He didn't say anything but Mac saw his shoulders relax, even though she couldn't quite place the expression on his face; it seemed to be a mixture of worry, anger and relief. Finally he ended the call with „Thank you, we'll be right there“, took a deep breath and then smiled.

„They found Will, he is alive.“

While Vic let out an excited squeal and ran over to hug Charlie, Mac quietly remained in her spot, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply.  
_Will was alive. He was alive!_

Then she looked at Charlie again; not quite able to believe that everything was supposedly over. „Where is he? I need to see him.“

„I'll call a cab, that's quicker than waiting for my driver. They are taking Will to the hospital right now and I told Agent Benton we would meet him there.“

„Hospital? What's wrong with Will?“ Mac asked agitatedly and Vic also gave Charlie a worried look.

„You've seen the picture the kidnappers sent, he needs to be checked out.“

Vic relaxed at this reply, but Mac just stared at him suspiciously. „You're not telling us everything; there is more, isn't it?“

Charlie sighed. „Will has a nasty head wound and was unconscious when they found him...“ He saw both Mac and Vic opening their mouths to ask more questions, so he just raised his hand. „I don't know anything else. Let's get to the hospital and you can ask Agent Benton anything you want.“

::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

On arrival at Mount Sinai Hospital they jumped out of the cab and hurried inside. When Charlie asked for Will they were sent to the ICU which immediately increased Mac's worries tenfold. However she tried to calm down by telling herself that putting an unconscious patient in intensive care was probably standard procedure for the hospital to be on the safe side.

Agent Benton was already expecting them in the waiting room and quickly came over to meet them. „Ms. McHale, Mrs. Turner, Mr. Skinner – Good to see you.“

„How's Will? And what happened?“ Mac asked him, a little out of breath from almost running down the corridors.

„Mr. McAvoy is currently being examined, the doctor will come here as soon as he is finished.“ Benton replied. Looking around the room he gestured for them to step into a corner so that none of the other occupants could overhear them, and continued with a low voice.

„As I already told Mr. Skinner we followed the person that picked up the money, keeping our distance, which wasn't a problem thanks to the GPS tracker. He led us to their hideout, a seedy apartment in Washington Heights. Once we were sure that all three of them were there a SWAT team went in, put them under arrest and seized the money.  
When they wouldn't tell us where they held Mr. McAvoy we brought them in for questioning. They were being interrogated seperately and when we played both ends against the middle they quickly gave each other up, they definitely weren't pros.“ He gave them a reassuring smile.  
„Once we promised to recommend a deal for that person who gives us the location of Mr. McAvoy first they couldn't tell us fast enough. And as they all pretty much told the same story we can be fairly sure that no one else was involved, so this threat should be over. The fact that the amount of 4.5 million Dollars is best divided by three also hints in this direction.“

„So where did you find Will?“ Vic wanted to know.

„They held him in an abandoned warehouse in Hunts Point. They had supplied him with enough water and food to last at least a week so that they wouldn't have to check on him. Once they had the money they were planning to get out of town and then let us know where to look for him. They didn't count on him getting hurt during the kidnapping or maybe they just didn't care, so the wound got infected because it wasn't treated.“ Benton grimaced. „You can be sure that this won't bode well for them in court.“

„So what now?“ Charlie asked. „Is there anything else we need to do?“

„For now we will just wait to hear what the doctor has to say. For safety reasons we will clear it with the hospital that apart from me and my colleagues only the three of you will have access to Mr. McAvoy's room. This is just a precautionary measure, just in case another perpetrator _does_ exist, but I sincerely doubt that. Also you probably want to keep the press out. Is there anybody else who should be allowed in?“

Charlie, Mac and Vic looked at each other, then Vic let Agent Benton know that their sister Mary might come to New York later in the week.  
In addition Charlie asked him to also put Jim Harper and Leona Lansing on the list. He knew that he wouldn't be able to drag Mac away from Will's bedside for the next days and needed to make sure that Jim could get in touch with her at anytime in case he needed advice. And Leona... Well, she would most certainly create havoc if she wasn't allowed to visit her star anchor and he really didn't want that to happen.

„Okay, I will arrange for that. Still you might want to arrange for a guard in front of his door for a few days, just in case.“ Charlie nodded at this while Benton continued.  
„Tomorrow we will speak to the kidnappers again about their motive and more background information, and as soon as Mr. McAvoy is up to it we will have to debrief him. I'll be back later to see how he is doing.“

He started to walk towards the door but all three of them simultaneously held him back. While Vic and Charlie did it verbally by calling his name, Mac, being closest to him, grabbed his arm. „Thank you for everything you have done and for saving Will. We were so worried...“

Benton just smiled. „You're more than welcome. Let's just hope he'll be up and about soon and there isn't any long-term harm done.“ With this he turned around and left the room.

Charlie looked at his watch, realizing that it was already past one o'clock in the morning. This promised to be a long night, so he motioned Vic and Mac to sit down while he would try to find some decent coffee.  
With a relieved sigh they followed his suggestion, both of them leaning their heads back and closing their eyes. Then Vic took Mac's hand and squeezed it. „He's gonna be fine, Mac.“

When Charlie came back about fifteen minutes later he handed each of them a large cup of steaming hot coffee, which they gratefully accepted. Another half an hour later the door to the waiting room opened again.

„Family of William McAvoy?“

Immediately they jumped up and Vic took a step towards the middle-aged doctor. „I'm Victoria Turner, his sister.“

„Doctor Richard Waters. You're brother was brought in here with a severe concussion and a broken collarbone which we have set. In addition he also was a little dehydrated. However, we are more worried about his head wound, which would have been easy to treat if he had been brought here immediately. Instead he caught an infection which resulted in a severe sepsis. He runs a high temperature of 103°F with chills and also shows tachycardia as well as tachypnea...“

„In laymen's terms, please?“

„I'm sorry. Your brother has a very fast heart beat with more then 90 beats per minute and a high respiratory rate, which are some of the typical signs of severe sepsis. For the diagnosis at least two criteria for the systemic inflammatory response syndrome SIRS have to be met. Together with the fever and chills Mr. McAvoy shows three of them.“ He cleared his throat before going on.

„Sepsis is categorized in three levels: sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock. A severe sepsis leads to sepsis-induced organ dysfunction or tissue hypoperfusion. In this case luckily Mr. McAvoy's lungs, liver, kidneys and, apart from the rate it's going at, his heart seem to be working fine. What worries us at the moment is his brain, obviously due to the head wound but also because he is unconscious.“ Mac and Vic visibly paled at this sentence, but he raised his hand and continued.

„The medical term is encephalopathy which includes criteria like coma, agitation and confusion. We will have to wait until he wakes up to see which symptoms he shows besides the coma, if any. But even if he does, resulting from sepsis these would be reversible.“

Charlie cleared his throat. „So what are you doing about it?“

„For now we have thoroughly cleaned the wound and started him on broad-spectrum antibiotics, which he will have to get for at least seven to ten days. We do however have taken blood cultures to find the most effective antibiotic for his case and will replace the current medication if necessary. He is also administered fluids via an IV until his heart rate is down and he is rehydrated.“

„How long will he be unconscious?“

„That is hard to predict, but I assume it will be at least another day, if not longer.“

„Can we see him?“ Mac spoke for the first time since the doctor had come in.

„You can all take a short look at him, but for now I can't allow more than one visitor to stay at a time. Still, I would recommend you go home; like I said, he will not wake up for a while. Follow me.“ Doctor Waters turned around and led them to a room close to the nurse's station. „Just for a couple of minutes.“

They nodded and Vic carefully opened the door to Will's room.  
As soon as Mac saw him lying in the bed she felt like a ton of bricks that had been weighing her down for the last days was lifted from her heart. She'd just had to see him with her own eyes to believe that he was safe.

The next moment though, noticing the heart monitor, the IV's and also the bandages on his head and shoulder as well as several lacerations and bruises on his arms, her trepidations immediately returned. Slowly she took a step towards his bed and gently touched his left hand, caressing it with her fingertips. It felt warm, which somehow comforted her, and after a moment she stepped back to let Vic get closer.

Looking up at Charlie she whispered „We should go and let Vic get comfortable, if that is even possible here.“

He nodded and just wanted to lead her out of the room when Vic held them back. „Wait. I think _you_ should stay here, Mac. I will come back tomorrow.“

„But Vic, he's your brother!“ Mac protested, but it even sounded weak to herself.

„I'm very sure when he wakes up it's you he wants to see. And I think you need some time with him. I'll go to his apartment, call Mary and tomorrow I'll bring some things he might need.“

The only reaction Mac was capable of was to take Vic into her arms and give her a tight hug. When she pulled back a tear showed in her eyes and she just managed to whisper a simple „Thank you.“

Vic only smiled and before leaving she stepped up to the bed and gave Will a gentle kiss on the unharmed side of his head. „I'll see you tomorrow, Wills.“

When they had left the room Mac pulled a very uncomfortable looking plastic chair up to the bed and sat down at Will's left side, so not to risk touching his broken shoulder and causing even more harm. Taking his hand into hers, carefully avoiding to touch the needle for the IV, for a long time she just looked at him; trying to sort through all her thoughts and feelings from the past days. Right now she was just thankful that he was back. That she was able to touch him and that they, God willing, still had a chance. Finally she couldn't hold back.

„God, Billy... I was so incredibly scared... I thought I would never see you again and I wouldn't have known how to go on without you...“ A single tear rolled down her cheek. „I know you probably can't hear me, but if you do, just know that this is it. We can't afford to fuck around anymore, so when you are awake we 'll have to talk. And we will talk, I promise you that, whether you like it or not....“  
To ease the harshness of her last words she pressed a tender kiss to his knuckles before leaning back in the chair and just watching him.

She almost fell asleep a couple of times and only startled when her head fell back, but finally she succumbed to her exhaustion and drifted off in the most uncomfortable position.  
When she woke up a couple of hours later her whole upper body was stiff and she could hardly move her head as the muscles in her neck seemed to consist of a single giant knot. She carefully rubbed it and slightly turned towards Will, whose hand she was still holding, when she noticed the nurse standing on the other side of the bed, checking out the cardiac monitor.

„Good morning.“ Mac managed to say with a husky voice. „Is everything alright?“

The nurse turned around and smiled. „Good morning. Yes, everything is good so far, his heart rate has slowed down a little. You didn't look very comfortable in that chair. Maybe you should go home, we don't expect Mr. McAvoy to wake up for quite a while.“

„Thanks, but I'm fine. I need to be here...“

This earned her a sympathetic and understanding nod. „That's fine. In case you need some coffee or tea, there is a beverage station in the waiting area. Maybe you would like to get one now, then I could replace the IV bag. I'd need you to get up for that anyway.“

Mac quickly got up on her feet and stepped away from the bed. „Of course, sorry, I didn't mean to be in your way.“

„It's fine, just give me a couple minutes.“

„No problem, I think I will get me that coffee, that sounds really good right about now.“

When she returned from the waiting room, a cup of hot tea, which had looked more appealing than coffee in these early hours, in her hands, the nurse had already left the room. Not feeling like sitting in that plastic chair again for a while Mac went to the window instead and looked over to the nearby Central Park. It was shortly before six in the morning and she could already see some people, mostly joggers and bikers, starting their day.

Turning around she leaned against the window sill and savored her tea, not taking her eyes of Will. Maybe it was the morning light, but to her he seemed to look a little better. His cheeks were rosy, but lacking the feverish blush from last night, and he looked more comfortable, was breathing more regularly.

Time past while she alternated between standing and sitting, preferring the latter to be able to hold Will's hand. Nurses had been in sporadically, and the doctor on the morning round had looked satisfied and confirmed her perceptions about Will's improved condition, which relieved her immensely.

At about a quarter past ten Vic entered the room, carrying two bags as well as a large cup of coffee in her hands. „Good morning.“ she whispered. „How is he doing?“

„Better.“ Mac quietly returned with a smile. „His fever and heart rate are down a little and his breathing is more regular. The antibiotics are working and the doctor was very pleased this morning.“

Vic sighed with relief. „Thank God... Yeah, he really does look better, doesn't he? Any prognosis as to when he will wake up?“

Mac shook her head. „No, they don't know, but they expect him to be out for a good while longer. They say it's good, the sleep will help him heal.“

„That's good.“ Vic smiled. „Here, I brought you coffee. Did you get any sleep?“

„A couple hours, wasn't very comfortable though... Thanks for the coffee.“

„I bet... I brought your bag you left at Will's last night. I will stay here for a while, why don't you go home, get some sleep and freshen up?“

Mac hesitated. She really wanted to stay, but she knew she mustn't be selfish. Vic was Will's sister and had more right to be with him than herself, and at the moment still only one visitor was allowed at a time. And she also had to admit that a couple hours of sleep in her own bed did sound very appealing, so she nodded and embraced Vic shortly, promising to be back in a few hours.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

In the end it turned out to be more like four hours of deep, restful sleep that left her feeling refreshed and almost rejuvenated. After a long, hot shower and a very belated breakfast she called Jim to make sure everything was alright.

ACN had already reported on the morning shows that Will had been rescued by the FBI and that the kidnappers were in custody. There was supposed to be a follow up on Newsnight, so Mac quickly gave Jim an update on Will's condition as per this morning, but they agreed to only state that he was at the hospital for observation and doing 'as good as can be expected under the circumstances'.

Then she asked Jim to put her through to Charlie's office to enquire if he had any news from the FBI on the kidnappers.  
He did and the more he told her the quieter she got. How the fuck would Will react to that?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

Around six p.m. Mac was back at the hospital and after almost eight hours of sitting with Will, with an one hour break when Charlie had come in the early afternoon, Vic was ready to go home to Will's apartment and happy to cede her place to Mac.

Before leaving she informed her that his temperature had gone down even more and that the doctor had been very happy with his overall condition in the afternoon. Still no one had been able to tell her when to expect him to wake up.

After Vic had left Mac prepared herself for another night in this _really_ uncomfortable chair, placing a cushion she had brought with her on the surface and also pulling up a second chair to rest her feet on. Both chairs were placed alongside the bed so that she could easily keep touching Will's hand while holding a book in the other one.

Soon she had settled down, often taking a few minutes to just look at Will, who was still sleeping peacfully, before reading another chapter of her book. About two and a half hours later she finally put it down for the night.  
Getting a little tired she began to doze off, when she suddenly felt Will's hand twitch in hers. Immediately wide awake again she sat up and saw his eyelids flutter, before he slowly started to open them, clearly trying to orient himself.

The evening sun lit the room, creating a very soft, pleasant light, but still it was much brighter than anything Will had seen during the last days, so he struggled a little to adjust his eyes. When he managed to completely open them he gazed through the room until he saw Mac standing next to his bed.

„Mac...“ he rasped, barely able to get the word out due to his dry throat.

„I'm here, Billy, you're gonna be fine.“ Mac was so relieved that her knees threatened to give in and she squeezed his hand a little harder.  
_He was awake, he recognized her!_

Will wanted to say something but then closed his eyes. „Water...“

„Of course, hold on.“ Mac quickly poured some water from the pitcher on his nightstand into a cup and brought it to his mouth, carefully helping him to raise his head a little. He took a couple of small sips before letting his head fall back into the pillow.

„Hold on a second, I will get the nurse. They need to know that you woke up.“ Mac started to let go of his fingers she had almost automatically enveloped again, but he quickly tightened the grip.

„Don't go...“ he whispered with a still hoarse voice. „What... happened?“

Mac ran her thumb over his knuckles. „You have been kidnapped after Monday's show but the FBI got you out. It's a long story, I will tell you everything later, okay?“

Will closed his eyes, but then looked at her again. „Lonny?“

„He's in the hospital. He has a broken leg, among other things, but he's gonna be fine. I saw him yesterday.“  
Had it really only been yesterday morning, that she had visited him? With everything that had happened since then it felt like it was at least a week ago...

„Let me get the nurse to check on you. And I will have to text Charlie and Vic that you're awake. She's in New York and has been sitting with you all day.“

He nodded with a hint of a smile and hesitantly let go off her hand. With a last stroke of her thumb she quickly left the room.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

The next time Will woke up it was the middle of the night and only a small table lamp was spending any light. The heart monitor was gone and only the IV was left in his arm.  
He felt Mac's hand still entangled with his and saw her slouched in the chair next to his bed, her head resting on the mattress next to his hip.

He wasn't as confused as he had been the first time he had woken up and tried to figure out how he had gotten here, but the last thing he remembered was lying on that filthy mattress, feeling hot and shivering from cold at the same time.  
He was so grateful that someone had found him. That, according to Mac, Lonny was alright. And that she was here with him.

Will wanted to wake her up, but she looked like she really needed to sleep, so he settled for just looking at her and enjoying the sensation of her touch.  
He remembered the thoughts he'd had about their situation during his captivity and was glad they apparently would get the opportunity to talk. He really wanted to; he didn't want to lose any more time.

He dozed off for a while, but when he felt Mac stir he opened his eyes again and saw her sitting upright, staring at him. With a smile he squeezed her hand. „Thanks for being here.“

She returned his smile. „I wouldn't want to be anywhere else... How are you feeling?“

„Better. I'm not so dizzy anymore... What happened?“

Mac's face turned serious. „You have been deliberately hit by another car and three men kidnapped you. The next morming we got a ransom call and the drop was yesterday. The FBI followed the man who picked up the money and caught all three of them, but you weren't there...“ Her eyes reflected the fear she had felt that moment, and Will soothingly ran his thumb over her hand. „It took them a few hours to get the information where they kept you out of these lowlifes, and when they got there you were unconscious... You have a broken collarbone and the gash on your head got infected which resulted in a severe sepsis.“

Will was quiet for a moment. „What day is it?“

„Thursday. Well, Friday early morning.“ She corrected herself after a look at her watch.

„There are three days of my life I'll never get back...“ Will mumbled, then he looked up. „MacKenzie...“ Something in his eyes made her heart skip a beat. „I had a lot of time to think during these last days... Well, actually I had already started before all of this happened...“ he admitted. „...but it made me realize that no one knows what comes next and that we might not have as much time as we think... We have lost so much time already... The voicemail message...“ He paused for a moment when he saw a glimmer of hope in Mac's eyes.  
„MacKenzie, I told you that I've never stopped loving you.“

Mac was stunned. She had expected him having said something about working on forgiving her, maybe even that he _had_ forgiven her, but never had she thought he... This couldn't be. „ _What_ did you say?“

„I have never stopped loving you. I love you, Mac.“ Will squeezed her hand and smiled.

„But... if what you say is true, why do you keep on punishing me? Why did you bring _Brian_ in to write that fucking article? Why _him_ of all people?“

His smile faltered and he sheepishly looked up at her. „I.. might have also said to just ignore my message in case you don't feel the same way...“

Suddenly everything fell into place and Mac struggled to take the next breath. „How...? Why...? Goddammit, Will!! You brought Brian in to punish me for not...? For Christ's sake, don't you know me at all? Do you really think that even if I _didn't_ love you I wouldn't have said anything?“

„I know... I'm so sorry, Mac, I was just so...“ Will paused when everything she said finally reached his brain. „Wait, did you just say, 'even if you didn't love me'? _You love me?_ “ His voice was full of hope.

„Of course I love you, you idiot, but how could you? Did you seriously...“ Suddenly Mac realized what had just happened, both of them confessing their love for each other. She stared at Will with wide eyes, biting her lower lip before the most beautiful smile lit her face.  
„You love me, too?“

„I do.“ He returned her smile. „I love you and there is nothing I can do about it. Not that I _want_ to do anything about it. I love you and I want to be with you. I don't care about the past, I just know that I don't want a future without you. _You're_ my future and without you I'm just a miserable, grouchy old grump.“

A tingling warmth spread out over Mac's body and she couldn't help but to bend down, carefully put her hands on his cheeks and place a gentle kiss on his lips. „I love you, too, Billy“ she whispered, smiling against his lips, before she straightened herself up and sat down on the edge of the bed, holding his hand again. She couldn't bear to not touch him, now that she knew he didn't mind at all.

Will groaned at the loss of her lips. Holding hands was definitely not enough, so he lifted his left arm. „Come, lay down next to me.“

„Seriously, Billy? We can't do that; the bed is too small and I don't want to hurt you.“ Not that she didn't _want_ to be close to him, but someone had to be the voice of reason, and after all _she_ was the one curently not under the influence, even if he was only on painkillers...

„It'll work, my left side is fine.“ He lifted his arm even higher and Mac didn't put up any more resistance. She carefully lay down on her side, snuggling into him with her head resting on his chest and his arm coming down to hold her tight.

Mac couldn't believe that they both were finally on the same page and would start to built their future together. For more than four years she had been waiting for this moment, often almost losing hope and wondering if they would ever get here where they were now. Being so close to him felt so right and she never wanted to move from his side again. She began to gently draw little circles on his chest with her fingernails and deeply inhaled his scent. „I love you.“  
She felt him relax beside her and then both of them got lost in their thoughts and finally started to drift off to sleep.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

When Will woke up again the sun was already up, but it was still early in the morning, after all it was August.

At first he couldn't figure out why he felt so relaxed and content, but then he remembered what had happened earlier and felt Mac still lying in his arms. Apparently she was awake, as her hand was again drawing patterns on his chest, so he tightened his grip on her and opened his eyes. „So, this wasn't a dream?“

Mac looked up at him, coyly at first but when she noticed his teasing smile she answered with a wide grin. „Definitely not. Don't think you can get rid of me again, you're stuck with me.“

„There's nobody I'd rather be stuck with. I am completely and utterly in love with you, I was just too stupid and stubborn to admit it earlier. I am really, really sorry, Mac. I promise, I will never hurt you again.“

Lifting herself up on her elbow she looked at him and then leaned in for a kiss. „I'll hold you to that.“ After another kiss, this time a little longer, she settled against his chest again. Suddenly she giggled. „The night nurse came in a little earlier. I don't think she was too happy seeing me in your bed...“

„Well, not our problem, is it?“ He placed a kiss in her hair, but then he sighed.  
„So, who do we have to thank for all this? Was it somebody who wrote threats before? Didn't like our Tea Party coverage?“  
Will tried to keep the tone light, but Mac could hear the strain in his voice, and when she tilted her head she saw the pain in his eyes. There was no easy way to do this, but he had to know, so she entangled her fingers with his that were resting on her arm, before she started to speak.

„Well, indirectly our show _was_ the cause... The kidnappers were thugs who were out for a quick buck, they wanted ransom money. But...“ She tightened her grip. „According to what they told the FBI it wasn't entirely their own idea... Somebody kind of helped them along...“

„What are you talking about? Was there a brilliant mastermind behind all this?“ Will sounded confused.

„No.“ Mac vehemently shook her head and reluctantly moved out of his embrace to sit up and look at him. „That person wasn't directly involved, it was just his talk that put the idea into the kidnappers' heads...“

„Okaaaayyyy.... So who was it?“

Mac swallowed hard and cleared her throat. „Will... They are from Nebraska and... they heard your father rail against you at his bar several times and that gave them the idea...“ Will didn't say anything but she saw him clench his jaws and his hand turned into a tight fist. Finally he whispered with a strained voice. „What did he tell them?“

„Nothing really.“ Mac assured him. „He wasn't directly talking to them, he was just ranting about and they overheard it. According to them they don't even really know him.“

„What did he say, Mac?“ Will repeated, not looking at her.

She sighed. „I don't know everything, you would have to ask the FBI. But it must have been something along the line of 'He's only telling bullshit and gets so much fucking money for it. That's not my son'...“ Mac saw him cringe and put her hand over his. „I'm really sorry, Will.“

He didn't say anything for a while, trying to understand that his own father had been the cause of these terrible last few days, but he just couldn't grasp it, couldn't get his head around it for now. Habib would have a field day with this and the topic would dominate his next dozen or so sessions, he was sure about that, but for now he rather didn't think about it.  
„And how much am I worth these days? Is it a flattering number?“

Mac understood that he had to get his thoughts away from his father, so she played along. „4.5 million Dollars. I've never seen so much money in one place in my life, let alone walk with it through the city. You wouldn't believe how glad I was when I finally reached the drop place!“

Will tensed. „Wait... _You_ did the drop?“

„Yeah, they specifically asked for me.“

„Why that?“

Mac sighed. „Well, it turned out that your father also included me and Charlie in his rants. Charlie, the tough marine who is like a father to you when you should rather look up to _him_ instead. And little ol' me, the conniving ex-girlfriend who came running back.“ She shrugged. „Apparently they thought I would be easier to handle in case something would happen during the drop, instead of Charlie with his marine training.“

Quite aware that Will was squinting his eyes and clenching his teeth she quickly reassured him. „It was no problem, Billy. It wasn't dangerous at all, I just had to leave a bag with the money in a specific location. And the FBI was all around me at that time, there was no need to worry...“ Mac paused for a second before slowly expressing what had gone through her mind during the last days.

„Listen, Will. Seeing what has happened I would completely understand if you don't want to continue the line of our show, I honestly would. We can back off the Tea Party and other controversial issues, at least for a while.“

Will thought about it for a moment and Mac watched him intently. Finally he shook his head. „We can't. We can't let these ramping idiots win and have a small number of people force their opinions on the rest of us. They can't just take the majority of Americans hostage...“

For a moment Mac only looked at him, but then a huge smile appeared on her face. „I'm just so fucking proud of you, Will McAvoy!“  
She leaned in for another kiss, this time more passionate than the ones before and she revelled in the feeling of his lips, his tongue in her mouth and his hand caressing her back. Finally she hesitantly drew back and took a deep breath, fully aware that he was in the hospital for a reason.

„You better take care that you get well soon so that we can continue this at home...“ Making herself comfortable at his side again she let out a content sigh. „We have each other, Billy, it's us now...“

When Vic entered the room a couple of hours later she stopped dead in her tracks. Looking at Will and Mac cuddled up in bed, his face in her hair, and her hand on his chest, a wide smile spread across her face and she slowly retreated to not wake them up.

Everything would be fine.

* * *

\--

I am definitely not a medical expert. I did some research, but if you do find a grave mistake please let me know so that I can correct it.

I hope you enjoyed the story!?


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